Deep anger and fear have taken hold among local residents, business owners and tourists after a devastating fire at Hotel Shikha Inn on Mirza Ghalib Street, in Kolkata’s “hotel district” near New Market, killed nine people, including seven Bangladeshis. Amid the intense panic, many Bangladeshi tourists have recently rushed to check out of Kolkata hotels and return home. Hotel owners, meanwhile, have grown deeply anxious.
Kolkata’s famous “hotel district” has grown up around Sadar Street, Marquis Street, Lindsay Street and Mirza Ghalib Street, also known as Free School Street, near New Market. The area is a very familiar name to Bangladeshi tourists. The main reason middle- and lower-middle-class Bangladeshi travelers come here for medical treatment is that comparatively cheap hotels or guesthouses are available in this area. It also has money-exchange counters, long-distance bus stands and various footpath food stalls within easy reach.
But the recent deaths in the fire are being blamed directly on severe administrative negligence and illegal business practices. Illegal hotels and guesthouses are rampant in this area. Owners of residential buildings, tempted by higher income, have converted their homes fully or partly into hotels. There are allegations that municipal, fire service and electricity department officials turn a blind eye to these irregularities in exchange for money. One building housing the hotel where the fire broke out stands right next to the headquarters of the West Bengal Fire Service. Such hotels, in other words, could not operate without administrative complicity. Many hotels do not even have a valid license. A single five-story building may house as many as 10 small hotels or guesthouses. Extremely small rooms have been created inside using partitions.
These hotels have no minimum safety arrangements in place for tourists. Bangladeshi tourist Md Ujjal Khan said many hotels have entry and exit passages so narrow that there is no way to get out quickly in an emergency. When he heard about the fire, he took shelter in the hotel bathroom himself, and survived after fire service members rescued him. Most hotels in the area have no fire exit or emergency escape route. Iron stairs have been built to reach the second or third floor. Electrical wires are spliced together haphazardly to run air conditioners and televisions. Many hotels have never had a fire service audit at all.
The severity of the fire has created deep anger and fear among tourists. Many were trembling with fear upon hearing the news and could not eat properly all day. A tourist from Jatrabari, Bangladesh, expressed outrage, saying such a dilapidated state of hotels is completely unacceptable in a city as large as Kolkata.
In his view, the hotels charge a great deal of money while offering extremely poor service, with no safety measures whatsoever. In older buildings, he said, the stairs are so narrow that two or three people cannot even descend properly together. He alleged that local people take advantage of tourists’ helplessness to cheat and overcharge them.
He strongly demanded that authorities inspect every hotel to check valid documents and safety arrangements. Samir Das, a Mirza Ghalib Street business owner, also acknowledged that the incident has created intense fear among Bangladeshi tourists. A tourist named Sohel said real fear has now set in among them. Since the incident, many tourists have been hurriedly checking out of their hotels and returning to Bangladesh.
The fact that people who came hoping for better medical treatment returned as bodies instead has deeply shaken everyone. As news of the accident spread across Bangladeshi media, it left a deep impression on people back home as well. The grief has deepened further because the dead included a journalist from Kushtia and four members of his family. Tourists have also spoken of various hardships in traveling to India, describing visa complications, the aggressive presence of brokers, and endless harassment such as long waits at the Benapole border. Because of these hardships and the sense of insecurity, many are now seriously considering going to Chennai or Vellore, China or Nepal for treatment instead of Kolkata.
Following the accident, authorities have finally begun to act. Last Thursday, flowers were laid in front of the fire-hit hotel in tribute to those killed. The municipal corporation, fire service and electricity department have now begun taking a tougher stance. An investigation committee has been formed, and a vigorous inquiry into the legality of hotels and guesthouses in the area is under way. This sudden administrative activity has left illegal hotel owners deeply anxious.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report